Russian flight engineer Oleg Artemyev, 43, is now out of the Soyuz spacecraft. Artemyev has completed his first spaceflight and now has 169 days in space.

NASA astronaut Steve Swanson, who rode home in the Soyuz capsule's right seat, is now out of the spacecraft. Swanson, 53, was the commander of the International Space Station's Expedition 40 crew. The Colorado native is now a veteran of three space missions, including two space shuttle flights and a space station expedition, amassing nearly 196 days in orbit.

Veteran Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov, the Soyuz commander, is first to exit the Soyuz spacecraft. Skvortsov, 48, has now logged 345 days in space on two spaceflights.

Video from the landing site shows the Soyuz spacecraft landed upright. Ground crews are installing a stand around the bell-shaped capsule to assist in extracting the three-man crew.

The recovery team arrived aboard a convoy of Russian helicopters that landed around the spacecraft to begin assisting the crew out of the capsule.

TOUCHDOWN! The Soyuz TMA-12M capsule has landed in Kazakhstan, capping the 169-day voyage of Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev and NASA astronaut Steve Swanson to the International Space Station on Expeditions 39 and 40, a mission that traveled more than

At an altitude of about 12 meters, cockpit displays will tell the cosmonauts to prepare for the soft landing engine firing. Just one meter above the surface, and just seconds before touchdown, the six solid propellant engines are fired in a final braking maneuver, enabling the Soyuz to land to complete its mission, settling down at a velocity of about 1.5 meters per second (3.35 mph).

The recovery team reports they have made audio contact with the Soyuz crew.

Live video from the landing zone shows the Soyuz descent module suspended under its orange and white main parachute. There appear to be no issues with the descent.

At an altitude of five kilometers, the module's heat shield is jettisoned. This is followed by the termination of the aerodynamic spin cycle and the dumping of any residual propellant from the Soyuz. Computers also will arm the module's seat shock absorbers in preparation for landing.

With the jettisoning of the capsule's heat shield, the Soyuz altimeter is exposed to the surface of the Earth. Using a reflector system, signals are bounced to the ground from the Soyuz and reflected back, providing the capsule's computers updated information on altitude and rate of descent.

Landing is scheduled about 10 minutes from now. NASA reports no problems so far in the descent.

Live video from the landing zone shows the Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft descending under its main parachute, and the crew is communicating with ground controllers.

Once the drogue chute is jettisoned, the main parachute is deployed. It is connected to the Descent Module by two harnesses, covers an area of about 1,000 square meters and slows descent to 7.2 meters/second.

Initially, the Descent Module will hang underneath the main parachute at a 30-degree angle with respect to the horizon for aerodynamic stability, but the bottommost harness will be severed a few minutes before landing, allowing the Descent Module to hang vertically through touchdown.

Onboard computers should be starting a commanded sequence for deployment of the capsule's parachutes at an altitude of about 10 kilometers. Two "pilot" parachutes are unfurled first, extracting a 24-square-meter drogue parachute. Within 16 seconds, the craft's fall will slow from 230 meters per second to about 80 m/s.

The parachute deployment creates a gentle spin for the Soyuz as it dangles underneath the drogue chute, assisting in the capsule's stability in the final minutes before touchdown.

The crew experiences the period of maximum g-forces at this point during entry.

Twenty minutes to landing. The Soyuz is making its fiery plunge into the atmosphere after 169 days in orbit.

Entry Interface. The Soyuz is now hitting the upper fringes of the atmosphere at an altitude of 400,000 feet, flying at an angle of 1.35 degrees. The Expedition 39 crew will soon begin to feel the first tugs of Earth's gravity after five months in space.

The entry guidance by the spacecraft's onboard software package is scheduled to start in a few minutes.

Mission control in Moscow confirms the Soyuz TMA-12M spaceship's modules have separated.

Module separation should have occurred at this time.

The three segments of the Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft have jettisoned apart at an altitude of 87 miles, allowing the crew-carrying Descent Module to safely ferry the three crew members back to Earth. The no-longer-needed Orbital Module and Instrumentation/Propulsion Module are designed to burn up in the atmosphere.

The Soyuz computers should have been loaded with commands to perform the pyrotechnic separation of the modules at this time.

Time to touchdown is now 30 minutes.

In about five minutes at an altitude of 87 miles, just above the first traces of the Earth's atmosphere, computers will command the separation of the three modules that comprise the Soyuz vehicle. With the crew strapped in to the Descent Module, the forward Orbital Module containing the docking mechanism and rendezvous antennas and the rear Instrumentation/Propulsion Module, which houses the engines and avionics, will pyrotechnically separate and burn up in the atmosphere.

The Descent Module's computers will orient the capsule with its ablative heat shield pointing forward to repel the buildup of heat as it plunges into the atmosphere. Entry interface at the upper fringes of the atmosphere, when the capsule is about 400,000 feet above the Earth, happens about three minutes after module separation.

The Soyuz flight path is crossing Africa now as the spacecraft falls back toward the atmosphere. The crew members are expected to close their helmets at this time.

The Soyuz is aiming for a landing site at 47.3 degrees north latitude and 69.57 east longitude. Landing occurs 1 hour, 23 minutes after sunrise in Kazakhstan.

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DEORBIT BURN COMPLETE! The Soyuz has performed its braking maneuver, committing the craft for entry into the atmosphere. Touchdown is about 48 minutes away.

DEORBIT BURN IGNITION! Thrusters on the Russian Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft are firing to brake from orbit. This deorbit burn is expected to last four minutes and 41 seconds to put the capsule on a course for the trip back to Earth, slowing the vehicle by about 286 mph.

Now one hour to touchdown.

Everything is on track for the landing of the Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft at 10:23 p.m. EDT (0223 GMT), with the start of the capsule's deorbit burn expected at 9:30 p.m. EDT (0130 GMT).

The deorbit burn is programmed to last four minute and 41 seconds to slow the spacecraft's velocity by 286 mph, enough for the Soyuz to drop in altitude and be captured by Earth's atmosphere for re-entry.

Just before it falls into the atmosphere, the Soyuz spacecraft's three modules will separate at 9:58 p.m. EDT (0158 GMT). The orbital habitation and service modules will burn up during re-entry, while the landing section containing Alexander Skvortsov, Oleg Artemyev and Steve Swanson is protected by a heat shield.

Altitude of the Soyuz spacecraft at module separation will be about 86 miles, or just shy of 140 kilometers.

The Soyuz spacecraft will reach the top of the discernable atmosphere at 10:01 p.m. EDT (0201 GMT). The crew members will experience maximum g-forces at 10:07 p.m. EDT (0207 GMT).

The Soyuz will issue the command to open parachutes at 10:09 p.m. EDT (0209 GMT), beginning a nearly 15-minute descent to the steppes of Kazakhstan southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan.

A set of so-called "soft landing rockets" will fire just above the ground to further cushion the impact of landing.

The 15-second separation firing by the Soyuz's thrusters has been completed to accelerate the spacecraft's departure from the International Space Station. The capsule will be nearly 8 miles away when it performs the deorbit burn today at 9:30 p.m. EDT (0130 GMT). Touchdown is scheduled for 10:23 p.m. EDT (0230 GMT).

The undocking occurred as the spacecraft flew 261 miles over Mongolia.

UNDOCKING. The Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft has separated from the space station after 167 days there, setting the stage for today's return to Earth with Soyuz commander Alexander Skvortsov, flight engineer Oleg Artemyev and NASA astronaut Steve Swanson.

The undocking command has been issued. Hooks and latches holding the Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft and the station's Poisk module tightly together are being opened now.

The homeward-bound crew has worked together for the past couple of hours to power up the Soyuz, activate the craft's systems, remove docking clamps, depressurize the vestibule between the capsule and station, and don their Sokol spacesuits. Undocking is set for 7:01 p.m. EDT (2301 GMT).

The crew has boarded the Soyuz spacecraft for this evening's journey from the International Space Station to the landing site in Kazakhstan.

Alexander Skvortsov, Oleg Artemyev and Steven Swanson will put on their Sokol launch and entry spacesuits over the next few hours before undocking of the Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft at 7:01 p.m. EDT (2301 GMT). Landing is scheduled for 10:23 p.m. EDT (0223 GMT Thursday).

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Wrapping up 169 days in orbit, two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA space station commander will return to Earth aboard a Soyuz landing capsule Wednesday, heading for a parachute-assisted descent to the steppes of Kazakhstan.

Soyuz commander Alexander Skvortsov will be at the controls of the Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft, overseeing the ship's departure from the space station's upward-facing Poisk module at 2301 GMT (7:01 p.m. EDT).

Landing near the town of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan is targeted for 0223 GMT Thursday (10:23 p.m. EDT Wednesday), or 8:24 a.m. Thursday local time.

Skvortsov will be flanked by Oleg Artemyev, a cosmonaut wrapping up his first space mission, and Steve Swanson, the outgoing commander of the International Space Station's Expedition 40 crew.

Swanson transferred command of the outpost to cosmonaut Maxim Suraev during a change-of-command ceremony Tuesday.

"We've accomplished a lot, we've had a lot of fun," Swanson said. "Hopefully, everybody else had a lot of fun, too."

Swanson flew on two space shuttle flights before launching March 25 with Skvortsov and Artemyev from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The three-man crew reached the space station two days later after an initial rendezvous attempt was aborted by an attitude control issue.

"We did lots of cargo. We did lots of science," Swanson said. "We actually set the record for the number of hours of science in a week. We did a lot of maintenance, which is good and bad. I love doing maintenance, but it means things broke. We had a good time, and we really appreciate everybody's help up here."

After backing a safe distance away from the 450-ton complex, the Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft will fire rocket thrusters at 0130 GMT (9:30 p.m. EDT) to dip back into Earth's atmosphere.

The ship's propulsion module and austere living quarters -- designed to burn up during the fall back to Earth -- will be jettisoned at 0158 GMT (9:58 p.m. EDT) before the re-entry capsule encounters the first traces of the atmosphere.

Before their departure Wednesday, Skvortsov, Artemyev and Swanson will board their ride home and close hatches between the Soyuz and the space station at 1935 GMT (3:35 p.m. EDT).

The crew will buckle into custom-molded consoles -- with Skvortsov taking the center seat as commander, Artemyev in the left seat as board engineer and Swanson in the right seat.

The Expedition 41 crew formally takes over the space station at the moment of the Soyuz craft's undocking Wednesday.

Suraev is joined by NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman and European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst.

Suraev, Wiseman and Gerst will be joined by three fresh crew mates Sept. 25, when NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore and cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova launch to the space station to begin a six-month residency.